The lowly bean gets pricey in times of drought.

   
If you lived in a farmer’s shoes this week you’d find yourself on the cell calling your farmer pals on their cell and saying just one word: Beans?

    In response there is a chuckle and usually a request that if you do find some that you will swear to share your source. My own bean vines are in a sad state. Oh the plants look nice enough and there are lots of blossoms but the pods are rubbery and empty as the creek these days. This is how I found myself driving fifty miles to a produce auction four counties away in search of beans. Let me be the first to break it to you, there is nary a Tenderette in all of Central Kentucky right now.

I’m thrilled that my friends, Sam and Ellen Mast, Amish farmers from Crab Orchard, Kentucky, now have watermelon to share with us.

I first met Sam and Ellen last year and have gotten to know the family — six of their twelve children still live at home — pretty well during that time. They have a beautiful farm, more than 100 acres, and do a first-class job of irrigating , cultivating, and managing their land. I’ve learned a great deal from them and really enjoy our visits together. And the way they farm — with draft horses instead of diesel fueled tractors — is a lost art.